BOOST – Blockchain Opportunity Online Self Test

Is your organization ready for the innovative blockchain? Find out with our short online test.

Digitalization and the resulting progress in networking present companies and public administration with major challenges.

In addition to customer requirements, increasing cost pressure is an important factor influencing company decisions. Due to the high scaling of standard processes, the cost-income ratio is strongly linked to the efficiency of end-to-end processes. In many industries, a lot of process steps are still performed manually, which leads to intense resource consumption.

Blockchain technology is about to trigger a huge, self-reinforcing wave of innovation. Starting with the optimization or redefinition of processes and IT infrastructures, blockchain technology even has the potential to break down existing economic structures and create the prerequisites for decentralized business models.

The blockchain is basically a distributed register (Distributed Ledger) for transactions between parties, which transparently records every change. The most important feature that makes a blockchain so secure, and potentially makes the client-server principle of centrally operating platforms and companies superfluous, is the distribution of information to several recipients via a uniform interface.

For the first time in the history of information technology, the blockchain combines the highest document stability with the highest transferability of data. In addition, with this technology, trust in a central provider is not required. Trust is distributed across the network of users. This fact also allows existing IT applications to be improved. Application cases that were previously difficult or impossible to solve with classic IT data models are now possible.

Challenges

Before blockchain technology can be used, several challenges must be overcome. The four most important are:

Cost-benefit analysis: The speed, efficiency and quality of transaction processing may increase, but this does not necessarily lead to an increase in profitability, as the development, implementation and integration of blockchain technology into an existing IT landscape is costly.

Common property problem: If the blockchain is to be made available to banks as common property, it must be clarified who will bear which share of the costs. Research into the commercial use of technology is currently still at an early stage.

Legal issues: Who assumes responsibility in the event of an error in the code and how is responsibility regulated in the event of an error in a blockchain with completely anonymous payment transactions?

Monitoring: A distributed network also requires a central organizational unit that is responsible for setting standards and complying with rules (see: Morgan Stanley Research, Banking on the Blockchain, 2016).

Our test gives a fast and concise overview as to whether the blockchain represents a viable alternative to your current IT solution as a distributed ledger. With the integration of individual industry data from a study by Prof. Garrick Hileman of Cambridge University, an industry-specific evaluation is possible for each use case. After filling in the form, you will receive your individual results by e-mail within a few minutes.